londonwikiaorg-20200216-history
London Regiment
The London Regiment is an infantry regiment in the British Army, part of the Army Reserve. The regiment saw distinguished service in World War I and was disbanded after the war in 1938, shortly before World War II, when most of its battalions were converted to other roles or transferred elsewhere. However, the regiment was raised again by 1993. History 1908-38 It was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the 26 Volunteer Force battalions in the County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform. Now part of the Territorial Force, the London Regiment expanded to 88 battalions in the First World War. Of these 49 battalions saw action in the trenches of the Western Front in France and Flanders, 6 saw action at the Gallipoli Campaign, 12 saw action at Salonika, 14 saw action against the Turks in Palestine, and one saw action in Waziristan and Afghanistan. Original London Regiment battalions The battalions of the regiment retained their individual identities, and during the First World War saw active service in many theatres, forming duplicate second and third line units. Following the war, each battalion was reconstituted as a separate regiment, and was awarded battle honours for their part in the conflict. The regiment was effectively dissolved in 1937-1938 when its component units were allocated as battalions of regular line infantry regiments or converted to an anti-aircraft role as part of the Royal Artillery or Royal Engineers. 1992-date The London Regiment was reformed in 1992 through the regimentation of most of the remaining successors of the original regiment (except the Rifles and the Artists Rifles). It is the only permanent infantry battalion in London District and consists of an HQ and four rifle companies. They are: *'HQ (Anzio) Company' *'A (London Scottish) Company' *'B (Queen's Regiment) Company' *'C (City of London Fusiliers) Company' *'D (London Irish Rifles) Company' Two companies of the Royal Green Jackets, F Company and G Company, formed part of the regiment between 1998 and 2004. In October 2003, 120 members of regiment were called up for active service in Operation Telic. They were deployed in areas around Basra in southern Iraq in January 2004. This group made up a company known as Cambrai company as part of the Multi-National Division (South East), a UK commanded division. In May 2004, they were replaced by Messines company, which was made up from an HQ and two platoons from across the London Regiment, along with a platoon from the Royal Irish Rangers. Following the restructuring of the British Army in 2004, it was announced that the Guards Division would gain a TA battalion. This saw the London Regiment retaining its name and multi-badge structure, while transferring from the Queen's Division to the Guards Division. The two RGJ companies were transferred to the Royal Rifle Volunteers in preparation for the formation of The Rifles in 2007, leaving the remaining companies in their present multi-badge formation. References External links * London Regiment Category:London-based units of the British Army